Sweet Sadie Sink

Interview/Gallery: Sadie Sink Will Go Wherever Stranger Things Takes Her

The actor talks Max’s future on the final season, and why her character and Elaine Benes have more in common than you might think.

Click for larger pictureFor W’s third annual TV Portfolio, we asked 21 sought-after names in television to pay homage to their favorite small-screen characters by stepping into their shoes.

After so many Stranger Things episodes centered on Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Max (Sadie Sink) finally got to take center stage in season 4. Reeling from the loss of her brother, the flame-haired skater retreats from her friends and cuts things off with her boyfriend, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin). Her only companion is a Walkman—which has the cassette tape containing Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.” She listens to the song so much that even though she’s kept her friends at bay, they know it’s the one song that could save her life—and, they hope, theirs. (Viewers have also been listening to it on repeat, to the point where, 37 years after its release, it hit No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart several times following the Netflix series’ season 4 premiere.)

Stranger Things—which, as the costumes make clear, takes place in the ’80s—isn’t the only way Sink gets her nostalgia fix. The 20-year-old actor has also been revisiting Seinfeld. Here, she makes the case for her similarity to Max and reflects on her character’s past, present, and future.

What was your reaction to the news that the Duffer Brothers [who cocreated Stranger Things] originally planned for the season to end with Max dying?

I didn’t know until someone told me about the interviews. They never really tell us what’s going to happen until we get the scripts, and when I got the script for episode 9, it said that Max dies but that she sort of comes back. It’s uncertain, but she’s not fully dead. I didn’t know the plan was to completely kill me off, which definitely would’ve been a very impactful ending. They’ve been saying in interviews that Max’s state at the end of season 4 is intentional, crucial, and calculated in terms of how it’s going to come to play in season 5—I guess. I know nothing.

What did you think was going to happen to Max before you read the script?

Season 4 was a wild journey for her. I definitely knew nothing good would happen, but I was not expecting this—this was a crazy, crazy end. I thought either she was going to succeed in a really epic way, or it would be her downfall, and I guess we landed somewhere in the middle.

You had to pause filming the season for more than half a year during lockdown. How much did Max stick with you during that break?

I definitely needed that time because of the state Max is in in season 4. That sense of isolation she feels is something we could all relate to coming out of quarantine, so having a lot of time by myself was good. By the time we returned to season 4, we were all really hungry to get back to work, so there was this determination and excitement on set. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be to get back into the groove of filming after such a long break.

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August 22, 2022 0 comments

Filed under: Interview, Photoshoot

Interview/Gallery/Video: Coveteur – It’s Sadie Sink’s Time to Shine

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{Studio Photoshoots} > 2022 Photoshoots > 018 – Behind the Scenes

When she’s not gracing the couture runways, befriending actor Woody Harrelson, or starring in the hit Netflix show Stranger Things, Sadie Sink spends her spare time doing nothing.

Well, not nothing. The 20-year-old reads (correction: is trying to read more). She plays with her five-month-old puppy. And, like many late adolescents, she peruses TikTok. During a recent scroll, Sink figured she’d fallen into some niche algorithmic vortex. Despite persistent swiping, clip after clip was soundtracked by the same song: “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),” a 1985 British pop ballad that arms Sink’s character, Max Mayfield, against the supernatural.

It had to be a coincidence. Although there are many accounts that exist claiming to be Sink—some with tens of thousands of fans—the star’s legitimate profile is anonymous (in Zoomer slang: a “finsta”). TikTok couldn’t know it was really her behind the screen. Within the same week, the Kate Bush track would hit number one on iTunes—40 years after its release—thanks to the show.

“I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had to listen to ‘Running Up That Hill,’” says Sink. “I knew the show had a giant fanbase, but I didn’t know how big until I was in it.”

The resurrection of “Running Up That Hill” has parallels to Sink’s ascension to stardom. As if portraying one of the most beloved characters on Netflix’s most-watched English-language series wasn’t enough, the Sink-led Stranger Things episode “Dear Billy” will make Emmy history if it wins in all seven categories it’s been submitted for. Winona Ryder identified Sink as the next Meryl Streep. Then, of course, there are her leagues of fans (an eye-watering 20 million on Instagram alone) obsessively ingesting any scrap of content she provides—from press appearances to behind-the-scenes insight.
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July 12, 2022 0 comments

Filed under: Interview, Magazine, Photoshoot, Videos

Interview: Sadie Sink on the Heart of ‘Stranger Things 4’ and How Volume 2 Sees Max “Braver Than She’s Ever Been”

The actress opens up about how she prepared for Max’s darker scenes, why she was genuinely terrified by Jamie Campbell Bower on set and who she thinks is Vecna’s next victim heading into the final two episodes.

This is Sadie Sink’s Stranger Things season.

The actress, who joined Netflix’s sci-fi coming-of-age series in its second year as Max Mayfield, has become an integral part of the show, especially so in its most recent run, which found her cursed by Jamie Campbell Bower’s Upside Down villain Vecna and only narrowly escaping.

At the beginning of Volume 1, it wasn’t clear what was going on with Max. It was obvious she wasn’t fully herself, but her behavior could have been chalked up to dealing with the grief and guilt of losing her brother, Billy (Dacre Montgomery). Viewers quickly found out, however, there was much more going on beneath the eye’s surface.

In the penultimate season’s fourth episode, “Dear Billy,” directed by Shawn Levy, Max goes toe-to-toe with season four’s big bad, Vecna, who preys on teens’ trauma, exposing the fears and guilt of his victims in order to get inside their minds, torment and kill them. When Max is set to become his latest victim, her friends play Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” finding the musical key to re-open a portal from Venca’s Mind Lair back to the real world, showing her an escape route as they try to revive her in front of Billy’s headstone.

“To be in a position where her life is on the line, but to see her friends showing up for her and choosing to fight was a really powerful moment for her,” Sink tells The Hollywood Reporter about that scene. “The heart of the season and the entire show is based upon the idea that friendship is stronger than fear. That really comes to play in that moment for Max.”

In a recent conversation with THR, Sink opened up about how she prepared for Max’s darker season four journey, why she was genuinely terrified by scene partner Bower on set, how she views Max’s fate and who she thinks is Vecna’s next victim heading into the final two episodes of the season.

How did you prepare for Max’s intense scenes this season?

There’s really no real way to prepare yourself. When I’m on set, that’s usually when it all sets in and intuition kind of kicks in. But, for this year, I thought it was important to really understand Max’s innermost thoughts — because she’s definitely not an open book. So it’s hard for her friends, her family and the audience members to really know what’s going on up there. I thought it was important that, in my own time, I did some daydreaming, journaling, whatever; just some internal thought and reflection on everything that she’s been through, and everything going on up there to bring some colors to the table. Not everyone has to know what [is going through her head], but I did that for my own sense of security and to feel like I’m in touch with the character as much as I can.
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July 06, 2022 0 comments

Filed under: Interview, Stranger Things

Interview: ‘Stranger Things’ Star Sadie Sink Shares the Vulnerable Way She Tapped Into Max’s Headspace in S4

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from Season 4, Vol. 1 of “Stranger Things,” currently streaming on Netflix.

VARIETY

Sadie Sink’s Max really goes through it in Season 4 of “Stranger Things.” After losing her brother, Billy (Dacre Montgomery), in the finale of Season 3, the newest season starts with her being torn apart by guilt about what happened.

“She’s just asking herself all of these questions, and putting the blame on herself,” Sink tells Variety. “It’s not necessarily because she’s mourning the loss of their relationship, but more just convincing herself that, somehow, she’s to blame for all the awful things that happen in her life — and the domino effect that Billy’s death had on her family and everyone around her.”

On top of all of that, Max’s best friend, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), has left town; she’s broken up with her boyfriend, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin); and she’s having visions of an actual monster.

Here, Sink — now 20 — talks about how she got into the headspace of the season, shares her thoughts about what’s in those emotional letters Max wrote to her friends, and reveals whether we’ll see more of Max’s mom.

When the season began, Max wasn’t in a good place. How did you tap into the darkness she was going through?

I’ve been with this character for the most formative years of my life. So I really know her very well at this point. But we never get to tap into this kind of vulnerability on the show that often, because it’s so fast-paced that there’s so much happening. So having a storyline that taps into some of her more emotional sides and showcases some vulnerability — which we don’t really get to see in the previous seasons — that was super exciting. In terms of preparation, so much of the season had to do with internal thoughts, and the thoughts that eat away at you. You don’t share with anyone.
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July 05, 2022 0 comments

Filed under: Interview, Sadie, Stranger Things